The Beginning Of The End?

I collect games and miniatures as many of you know.

I am always willing to pay a fair price for something I want, as are many others. However, I have noticed that there are prices being asked all over the place which are not only high, but almost bloody criminal, without recourse to any due diligence or scruples on the part of those asking them.

In my opinion, some of the highest prices for supposedly rare lead on eBay. are being asked by Cougarrinard, Goldfishblue, Hygienic Porridge and Melgil, but there are others too. Where and how do they come up with their asking prices? Perhaps they undertake naked midnight vigils at the grave of Gary Gygax, but I think they just invoke the Gordon Gekko principle and hope for the best.

Now, look, you can argue that demand guides the asking price, but when they are buying at pennies and selling at many times the price to several decimal points in many cases, it's falsely inflating the market.

And now that they have hoovered up the majority of figures out there, there is a dearth of old miniatures, and everybody who owns a model dated pre-1989 is declaring it 'rare', 'sought after' and I think I read on one advert 'hand polished on a unicorn's vagina'. It's getting out of hand quite frankly, and I can't wait for the day that they all find out that there's nothing more to be snapped up, and go off and find the next nostalgia trip for them to milk, as they surely will.

So, how can we address it?

Perhaps collectors should agree a code of conduct for the duration of the conflict, with similar calculations?

Sellers should not be allowed to get away with 'rare' in a description without justifying why the epithet is used. Call them out and if they get shirty, tell them and every other collector you know that you will not deal with that seller.

We shouldn't forget that these are not crown jewels or precious metals, nor are they Magna Carta or the writings of Julius Caesar. They are toy soldiers and printed paper which have been handled by sweaty fingered youths over the last 4 decades, usually quite clumsily and without recourse to good hygiene.

Take away the money from the resellers and sooner or later a few of them will see the error of their ways.

I will state for the record that I don't expect vintage stuff in good condition to be lower than original asking price, but I have personally set a limit of 'For 'X' I am willing to pay 'Y' times original price, where Y has a numerical value between 2 and 5.

Look at the Demogorgon furore when 'Stranger Things' hit the screens a couple of years ago, with every type of chicanery being used to sell models described as 'rare', 'top' and 'vintage' with many of those models being modern reissues produced by Mirliton, in new alloys and at a frankly eye searing mark up.

Pure bloody madness!

Look, fellow collectors, it's not about who can afford the prices (hell, I can, but i won't on principle) it's about keeping some form of integrity which will allow those who come after us to enjoy the things we enjoyed. When you die, those models might be sold for a decent price, but in most cases they won't. You won't be in a position to care, admittedly, but it's time we stopped acting like Thatcherite Yuppies at bonus time.

I could rant some more, but I'll save it for another time as it's a nice sunny Sunday and I want to enjoy it before e bed time.

All I ask is that you just stop and think about the true value of your toy soldiers and used books.


TTFN